Director of Public Safety says that MISSOURI's 911 system is "one of the worst in the nation"

Missouri is the only state without a statewide fee or tax for wireless 911 service.

Voters have twice rejected ballot measures to raise taxes for 911 service, most recently in 2002.

Public Safety Director Mark James told lawmakers Monday that service needs to improve, and recommended a 75-cent monthly fee per cell phone number.

That fee would generate about $33.8 million a year, nearly as much as what's collected now through the fee on landline numbers, state emergency officials said."Ours is one of the worst in the nation, and actions must be taken to correct this life-threatening problem," James said. "I pray that we don't have to have a catastrophe occur before we have the courage to fix this situation."

About three-fourths of Missouri's 171 emergency call centers also have outdated equipment and need technology improvements, such as the ability to share data with each other in a major disaster, James said.

Read full article in the St. Louis Post Dispatch: http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/missouristatenews/story/12A09210FBF39F8D8625732F007A12E0?OpenDocument